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Love

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. All over the world, people were giving cards, candy and other gifts to signify their love and devotion for another.

But in Galatians 6:1-5 the Apostle Paul talks about a love that Christians should have for one another. He said, “Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each person should examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in respect to someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load.”

More than once Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you“(John 13:34; 15:12) and in Romans 13:8, Paul reminded the Christians in Rome about love when he said, “Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

True love gives us the strength to carry the burdens of another. A Christian who is walking in the Spirit is free of the selfishness and pride that causes a person to look only at themselves, seeing their own actions and behavior as better than those around them. And in that freedom is the privilege of taking another’s burdens and the blessing of restoring someone to a place of obedience and faith, “serving another through love.” (Galatians 5:13)

And that word “restore” in the Greek means to mend what has been broken, to repair and make fit and sound. And when we carry another’s burden, whether it is a failure or a breach of faith and conduct, or whether it is their burden of day-to-day responsibilities, we are fulfilling the law of Christ, for He himself gave this command, this specific order when He said, “This is what I command you: Love one another“(John 15:17)

So today as we savor those sweet gifts of love or admire the trinkets that were given yesterday, pray that the Lord of the harvest will not only sharpen your vision to see opportunities to minister His love and restoration but also that He will be your partner in the tasks of today that you carry.